All About Ford's Police Interceptor Acceleration Numbers

2015 ford police interceptor sedan ・ Photo by Ford Media

Ford recently announced that their EcoBoost Police Interceptor sedan has repeated as the quickest accelerating pursuit vehicle in both Michigan State Police and Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department testing of 2015 vehicles. They also noted that their EcoBoost powered Police Interceptor utility was quicker than its SUV competitors (and in fact, quicker than any of the V6 sedans other than the EcoBoost), and stopped better than any of the other vehicles in its class.

The Police Interceptor sedan powered by the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 engine runs to 60 miles per hour in 5.85 seconds and 100 miles per hour in 14.19 seconds, beating out the Chevrolet Caprice powered by the 6.0-liter V8 (6.17 seconds to 60 mph and 14.69 to 100 mph) and the all-wheel drive Dodge Charger powered by a 5.7-liter V8 (6.31 seconds to 60 and 15.63 seconds to 100; the rear-wheel drive model performs similarly).

When it comes to the normally aspirated V6 models, the front-wheel drive Impala with its 3.6-liter V6 is quickest, completing the run from zero to sixty in 7.70 seconds, and hitting 100 mph in 19.71 seconds, followed by the front wheel drive Police Interceptor sedan with its 3.5-liter V6 (60 in 7.82 seconds and 100 in 19.82 seconds; the 3.7-liter AWD model posts nearly identical numbers), the Caprice with its 3.6-liter V6 (60 in 7.84 seconds and 100 in 19.41), and the Dodge Charger with its 3.6-liter V6 (60 in 8.05 seconds, 100 in 20.46 seconds).

Ford also has the quickest SUV, with the all-wheel drive 3.5-liter EcoBoost-powered Police Interceptor utility running to 60 mph in 6.55 seconds and 100 mph in 16.13 seconds, besting the rear-wheel drive 5.3-liter V8 Tahoe (7.31 seconds to 60 and 18.99 seconds to 100), the four-wheel drive 5.3-liter Tahoe (7.85 seconds to 60, 20.47 to 100), and the normally aspirated (but still AWD) 3.7-liter Police Interceptor utility (8.57 seconds to 60 and 22.78 seconds to 100).

Photo by Ford Media

When it comes to top speed, the fastest car is the Chevrolet Impala, which tops out at 150 miles per hour. The all-wheel drive V8-powered Dodge Charger V8 and EcoBoost-powered Ford Police Interceptor sedan can both hit 149 miles per hour, and the rear-wheel drive V8-powered Charger can hit 148 miles per hour. The Caprice, whether powered by the V6 or the V8, has a top speed of 147 miles per hour. The V6-powered Charger can hit 141 miles per hour. Both versions of Ford’s normally aspirated Police Interceptor sedan have a top speed of 132 miles per hour.

For the less aerodynamic SUVs, the rear-wheel drive Chevrolet Tahoe is the fastest with a top speed of 139 miles per hour, followed by both the EcoBoost-powered and normally aspirated versions of the Police Interceptor utility, which can hit 132 miles per hour. The slowest top speed in the bunch was the four-wheel drive Tahoe, which can only muster 121 miles per hour.

The best stopping sedan is the V6 Dodge Charger (with a projected stopping distance of 124.8 feet from 60 mph), followed by the rear-wheel drive V8 Charger (125.1 feet), the V8 Caprice (126.8 feet), another version of the V6 Dodge Charger (127.6 feet), the V6 Caprice (129.8 feet), the all-wheel drive V8 Charger (131.4 feet), the EcoBoost Police Interceptor Sedan (131.5 feet), the normally aspirated all-wheel drive Police Interceptor sedan (133.1 feet), the normally aspirated front-wheel drive Police Interceptor sedan (133.7 feet), and the Impala (134.8 feet).

The SUVs aren’t far behind in the stopping test, with the EcoBoost Police Interceptor utility stopping the shortest (132.5 feet), trailed by the normally aspirated Police Interceptor utility (133.5 feet), the four-wheel drive Tahoe (135.6 feet), and the rear-wheel drive Tahoe (135.7 feet).

Around the dynamics testing course, the AWD V8 Charger came out on top (posting a time of 1:34.80), closely followed by the EcoBoost Police Interceptor sedan (1:35.02), the V8 Caprice (1:35.08), and the RWD V8 Charger (1:35.43). In the competition amongst the lower power models, the V6 Charger (1:36.62 with 3.08 rear gears) beat out the V6 Caprice (1:36.82), another version of the V6 Charger (1:36.93 with 2.62 rear gears), the AWD normally aspirated Police Interceptor sedan (1:37.45), the FWD Police Interceptor sedan (1:38.02), and the Impala, which was the slowest of all the vehicles (1:40.69). The EcoBoost-powered Police Interceptor utility was the best of the SUVs (1:37.42, beating out the naturally aspirated Police Interceptor sedans), followed by the normally aspirated Police Interceptor utility (1:39.58), and the rear-wheel drive Tahoe (1:39.76, with the four-wheel drive model posting similar numbers).

If you’re looking for a Ford Police Interceptor sedan or Police Interceptor utility, visit http://www.fordpoliceinterceptor.com. Be warned, however, that if you are looking to purchase new, you might have to settle for a Ford Taurus SHO or an Explorer Sport. If you are looking to purchase used, Ford says that they rule over half of the new police vehicle market, so there should be a good selection in a few years.

To see the complete preliminary results from the Michigan State Police 2015 Police Vehicle Evaluation, visit http://www.michigan.gov/msp/0,1607,7-123--16274--,00.html.